


That's What Family is For

by MiladyDragon



Series: Dragon-Verse: Series Two [8]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Alternate Universe - Dragons, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Dragon-Verse, F/M, Family, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-16
Updated: 2012-12-16
Packaged: 2017-11-21 05:57:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/594224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiladyDragon/pseuds/MiladyDragon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes you need family to gain a perspective, and Alice is just the one to help with that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	That's What Family is For

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a fluffy one-shot before we get into "To the Last Man".

 

**_5 July 2008_ **

****

_“Hello, Alice.”_

Alice couldn’t help but smile.  “Hello, Ianto!  How’s the alien-hunting business?”

Her step-father – because, really, that was what he was even though there was no paper trail to say it officially – chuckled.  _“We’ve had a bit of a week, but things look to be calming down for a couple of days.”_

Alice frowned.  Ianto sounded tired, and it concerned her.  “Is there something wrong, Tad?”

_“I do like it when you call me that.”_

“Don’t dodge the question.”

There was a pause.  _“That’s actually why I’m calling, Alice.  Something happened last week, and your Dad’s a bit down because of it.”_

Her heart clenched.  She’d learned a lot about her father over that horrible year, and she’d been given a glimpse into how much Jack Harkness cared about others.  It had surprised her, because of her mother’s propaganda, and she’d come to a new understanding of just how lonely his life could be.  “What happened, Ianto?”

_“I know we talked to you about Gwen Cooper…”_

They had, and Alice hadn’t been impressed by what she’d heard.  “Yes, I remember.”

_“We fired and Retconned her last week.”_

“I’m sorry, but I’m a bit confused.  I thought that wouldn’t be a bad thing, the way you and Dad talked about her.”  Honestly, knowing what little she did about Torchwood, Alice was surprised that she’d been hired at all. 

_“No, it was overdue, and Jack believes that.  It’s the fact that he hired her, and she didn’t live up to his expectations.  It’s not the first time he’s hired someone that hasn’t worked out, and it’s got him second-guessing himself.  I’ve tried to get him to see that it’s nothing he did, but…”_

“But he’s taking all the responsibility onto himself.”   _Oh Dad_ , Alice thought. 

_“I’m afraid he is.”_

“But what about Tosh and Owen?  He hired them and they’re just fine.”

_“That’s just it.  Your Dad and I discovered Tosh and Owen together, hired them together, and trained them together.  Suzie and Gwen…they were all on your Dad, and now he’s regretting both.”_

Alice had heard about Suzie from Toshiko, and how her Dad had decided to keep her on after he and Ianto had taken over Torchwood Three.  Ianto had never really warmed up to her, but from what her fellow Dragon Friend had said she’d been a good agent until she’d gotten ahold of alien tech that had corrupted her.  “From what I’ve heard, Suzie wasn’t Dad’s fault.  But Gwen…well, I might never have met her, but it seems to me there wasn’t much to recommend her.”

_“No, I agree with you on Gwen.  But, after everything that’s happened to your Dad, it’s not so surprising that his confidence is bruising so easily.”_

Ianto had a point.  She’d seen some of what Jack had been through, on the intermittent broadcasts that the Master had made, and she’s been appalled by what the renegade Time Lord had done to him.  Alice could see where that would have dented what she’d once seen as her Dad’s eternal confidence.   Now she knew better, that the self-assurance he’d displayed had only hidden some deep-seated doubts in himself. 

“So,” she said, “what do we plan on doing about it?”

_“To begin with,”_ Ianto answered, the smile evident in his voice, _“we’re going to show that your Dad isn’t alone, that he has family…”_

**********

 

Alice entered the pub, looking around the crowd for someone she knew.  From Ianto’s phone call she knew that everyone would be there: Toshiko and Kathy, Owen, Estelle, and of course Jack and Ianto, and she hoped she wasn’t too late.

She caught sight of a familiar head of white hair, and threaded her way through the punters toward the table at the back where she’d seen Estelle.  Alice was grinning; she hadn’t seen any of them except her Dad and Ianto since they’d all gotten home from Ddraig Llyn, and she’d missed each and every one of them. 

Then her Dad was standing, and he was smiling that particular smile that said she was his world.  As soon as she was close enough he gathered her up into his arms, hugging her tightly.  Alice returned it just as tightly, and she leaned against him as if he was her pillar of strength.

Maybe he was, and she was just now realising it.

“Have a seat, sweetheart,” Jack urged, and Ianto scooted out a chair for her between her Dad and Estelle.   She took it, smiling up at him.

“What do you want, Alice?” Ianto asked. 

“Vodka and Coke,” she answered.  “I can get it –“

“It’s still Dragon Boy’s round,” Owen said, saluting her with his own half-full pint. 

“We do rounds by age and/or seniority,” Toshiko added.  “Ianto first…Jack second, and so on.”

“I’ll be right back,” her step-father promised, heading over to the bar.

Jack took his own seat, reaching over and clasping Alice’s hand.  “I’m glad to see you.”

“Me too, Dad.”  She leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek.  “Steven was a bit put out that he wasn’t able to come with me.”  She smiled slightly as she recalled the hissy fit her son had thrown when he’d found out she was going to spend some time with his grandfathers.

“Tell him I’ll see him soon,” Jack promised.  “And I’ll call tomorrow to talk to him.”

“I’ll do that, Dad.”

Alice felt as if a weight had been lifted that she hadn’t even been aware of until it was gone.  These were the people she’d shared so much with, had suffered horrors with, and they were back together again.  Jack and Ianto were her dads, but the others were also family as well.  Just being with them lightened her heart.

She turned to Estelle.  “When did you get back into Cardiff?” she asked.  When they’d left Ddraig Llyn, Estelle had claimed that she was going to stay for longer, and Alice hadn’t expected her back so soon.

“Just yesterday, actually,” the older woman answered.  “I thought about my house and how much I missed it, and just had to come home.”  She smiled softly.  “As much as I love Ddraig Llyn, Cardiff will always be my true home.”

A glass was set in front of her, and Alice grinned up at Ianto, thanking him.  He returned the smile, taking the empty chair next to Jack.  She had to admit that they just looked so _right_ together, and Alice was glad that her father had found happiness at last.  It didn’t hurt that she quite liked Ianto, either.

It didn’t take long for all of them at the table to reconnect.  Alice had a lot of fun teasing Toshiko when she found out that Kathy was taking her to meet her parents in about a week, commenting that she expected to be invited to the wedding. 

“Invited?” Kathy snorted.  “You’re gonna be in the bloody thing when it happens.”

Alice was honoured, and said so.  What she didn’t say was how pleased she was that Kathy had said ‘when’, and not ‘if’.   She’d been a witness to the beginning of their relationship, and she’d discovered the hard way that difficult times brought people together.  Toshiko and Kathy were her friends, and they just seemed to fit.  She was glad they could have found happiness amid the horror of the Master’s reign.  Maybe one day she’d find someone like that, although without the paradox and the insane Time Lord.  

She thought she had found the love of her life once, in Joe, but that had gone by the wayside like a bag of rubbish that had been abandoned for the trash men to pick up.  She may have lost Joe, and that had been an ugly situation, but she had a family now, and Alice thought that was rather more important in a lot of ways.

“Oh, and I heard from Martha,” Ianto was saying, bringing her out of her reverie. 

“How’s she doing?” Kathy asked.  “Still hero-worshipping that Time Lord or has she shown some sense?”

Alice rolled her eyes.  Yes, she didn’t much care for the Doctor either, not after what he’d said to her Dad and how he’d played with the fate of the planet, but Kathy could be blunter than a butter knife sometimes when it came to her opinions of people.  She’d been like that about Jack, but the inspector had mellowed out a bit even if she still gave him grief.

“Nope,” Ianto answered, grinning.  “Seems a certain doctor from that year tracked her down in London and asked her out on a date.”

“Bloody hell,” Owen swore, “not Milligan?”

Alice recalled the paediatrician from his time with the Resistance. He’d been a tall, good-looking young man who had been partnered with Owen. “He does remember it; he was in Ddraig Llyn after all when the paradox ended,” she said, taking a sip of her drink.

“Yeah,” Owen added.  “And he’s a good bloke.  I should really look him up myself sometime.”

“It seems he was quite smitten with our Martha,” Ianto went on.  “Once things calmed down and he was able to get back into his normal life, he knew he had to find her.  Martha was quite impressed by his tenacity.”

“And he’s doing okay with everything that happened?” Toshiko asked. 

“Martha says he’s like everyone else who remembers,” Ianto said.  “There are the nightmares, but I think we all have them.”

There was silence around the table, and Alice could tell everyone was considering his words.  She’d been having her share of bad dreams, but by some miracle Steven had seemed to come through relatively unscathed.  But then, she and Rhiannon had made certain that their children had been as sheltered as possible from the horrible events occurring outside their valley sanctuary, and it seemed to have worked, at least in Steven’s case.

“It’s nice that some good came out of all that evil,” Jack commented, taking a sip of his water. 

Alice couldn’t help noticing how haunted his eyes looked, and she threaded her arm around his, hugging him.  “It’ll never be worth what happened to you though, Dad.”

It was true. Even though she’d become closer to Jack than ever, there were times when she believed she’d gladly trade it all if it saved her Dad from the pain he’d suffered. 

“Thank you, sweetheart,” Jack murmured, tightening his own arm around hers. 

“She’s right, Jack,” Toshiko said.  “Even though I have Kathy because of it, what happened to you on the _Valiant_ was horrible.”

Kathy put her arm around her lover.  “Yeah, Harkness.  Tosh’s right.  I adore her and I like to think we’d have come together anyway, but how it did happen was shitty, and you didn’t deserve it what that bastard did to you.”

“Absolutely,” Estelle added.  “We’d all turn back time if it meant you hadn’t had to suffer.”

Ianto leaned into Jack, kissing him lightly.  “We all love you, Jack.”

Jack looked as if he wanted to cry.  Instead, he tugged Ianto closer, as he glanced around the table.  “Thank you.  All of you.  You have no idea what it means to me to hear that.”

“Yeah, well,” Owen snarked, “don’t expect any sentiment outta me.  You’re not gonna get me to say anything mushy, but then all the rest of you are just girls.  Even Dragon Boy over there.”

Ianto flipped him off, and the entire table laughed, breaking the tension.

As the night went on, Alice couldn’t help but see the darkness leaving her Dad’s eyes, and she had to admit that this had been an excellent idea.  Being surrounded by his friends and family was bringing him out of his doldrums, and she couldn’t help but smile.  Ianto caught her eye, and he was smiling as well. 

Sneaky dragons were sneaky.   This was just what her Dad had needed.

No, Alice realised, it was what they’d _all_ needed.  To have their closeness reaffirmed, without the threat of devastation hanging over their heads.  This was their first true get-together since they’d parted ways, and it really felt like coming home.  She had no idea that she’d needed this as much as her Dad had.

Looking into her step-father’s knowing eyes, a certain dragon had.

She rolled her eyes at him, and he laughed.  Jack looked at both of them, confusion on his face.  “Am I missing a joke somewhere?” he asked petulantly.

“Just Tad proving once again that he knows everything,” Alice snarked, causing Ianto to quirk an eyebrow at her and the rest of the table to crack up laughing.

“I don’t need to prove anything,” Ianto said primly.  “Everyone is already aware that I am just that good.”

That caused another gale of laughter around the table, Alice with them.  It felt so good to be back among them once again, and not have to worry about the world ending in that moment. 

She’d given it some thought, after she’d gone back to her normal life, that her Dad and the others would always be fighting for the planet, and that for them the world was almost ending on a weekly basis.  Alice wondered how they coped.  She wasn’t certain she’d be able to.  Even Kathy, who wasn’t as deeply into Torchwood, had a sense when things weren’t right, and would work to fix it.  As for Estelle…with her innate magic, she had one foot within the physical reality and one inside the supernatural, and had often seen her do the most wonderful things.

Alice understood, as a Dragon Friend of Air, that she also had a sense of her own element.  She’d noticed it almost immediately, while standing in her back garden with the wind in her face and the Earth under her feet.  She could feel the atmosphere around her; the world’s living breath calling to her, and in an instant she’d known she would have this connection forever.  No one but herself would ever understand, except for her fellow Dragon Friends, and Ianto.

It was heady, and she didn’t know how she handled it.

“You all right, sweetheart?” her Dad asked.

Alice hadn’t been aware that she’d gone quiet.  She smiled softly, touching his arm.  “I’m fine,” she answered.  “It’s just overwhelming sometimes when I think about how much all of us have changed.  Everyone has become more than they ever were, and it’s amazing.”

Jack’s eyes were brilliant in the pub’s indirect lighting.  “You have always been amazing, Alice.  It didn’t take any dragon spirit to make you that way, either.”

Alice felt herself blushing.  She couldn’t help but rest her head on his shoulder, and just soak up the closeness that she hadn’t even realised she was missing until it was nearly taken away from her.

 

**********

 

They managed to close the pub down, and it was a very happy bunch that made their way out into the warm Cardiff night. 

Dad managed to pour Owen into a cab, making certain that he’d tipped the driver to get Owen into his flat safely.  Kathy hadn’t had a drink since the third round, and was perfectly capable of driving, so she got a giggling Toshiko into their car and offered Estelle a ride.  The sorceress accepted gladly, kissing both Jack and Ianto on the cheek and then climbing into the passenger seat, exacting a promise that they would come out and see her soon. 

That left her and her fathers.   Ianto was pleasantly buzzed and singing softly, his arms around her Dad almost possessively.  “Do you want a ride home?” Jack offered, manhandling his mate until the dragon was practically puddled into his side. 

“If it isn’t any bother…”

“No bother at all.  Let me get our drunken dragon settled into the back seat and we’ll be ready to go.”

“I’m not that drunk, Jack,” Ianto denied, his voice a deep rumble that spoke to Alice of Earth and stone and ancient power.  It was as if his shields had come down and were revealing the great creature underneath, without changing shape.

“Yes, you are,” Jack reiterated.  “You are pissed, Mr. Jones, and I am going to take you home so you can sleep it off.”

“Only if you join me.”

“That goes without saying.”  Jack began walking them out to the car park, toward what Alice identified as the Torchwood SUV.  He must have seen her questioning look, because her Dad said, “I wasn’t certain who I’d be chauffeuring home, so I brought the larger vehicle.  Ianto’s Audi wouldn’t have worked.”

Jack practically lifted Ianto into the rear of the vehicle.  “You need to lose some weight,” he mock complained, pushing the dragon supine onto the bench seat.

“I’m at the optimum weight for my human form,” her step-dad answered, sounding insulted. 

Jack shut the door on his mate’s rambling.  “It’s all the take-out,” he told Alice, winking at her.  Ianto must have heard him, judging from the muffled bitching coming from the SUV.

Alice snickered, climbing up into the passenger seat while her Dad circled the front and got behind the wheel.  “Better buckle up,” Ianto sniped from the back, “your Dad is a maniac driver.”

“I love you too, Ianto,” Jack sing-songed.  He put the SUV into gear and left the parking lot, giving Alice a playful grin as he guided the large vehicle out onto the main road.

Alice took a glance into the back seat, to see Ianto sprawled across the bench there, his eyes closed.  He was singing slightly, in what she recognised as the dragon-tongue.  “Does he normally get that drunk?” she asked.

“Sometimes,” Jack shrugged.  “It depends on his mood.  It actually takes quite a bit to get Ianto tipsy, and I most likely should have cut him off a while ago.  He’s not going to thank me in the morning.”  Then he laughed.  “We should have gone somewhere with a karaoke machine.  That would have been even more fun.”

The streetlights strobed across his face as he drove, and Alice couldn’t help but watch.  In their actinic glow her Dad looked tired, and a bit sad, under his good humour.  “Are you all right?” she asked.

“Sure,” he answered.  “It’s been a bit hectic lately, but nothing I couldn’t handle with the help of the team.”

Alice decided to bite the bullet and confront him.  “Dad, Ianto told me what happened about Gwen, and he told me you were taking it hard.”

Jack sighed.  “I’m not surprised he did.”

“You can’t take on the responsibility for her actions.”

“I hired her, Alice.  It was my responsibility bringing her into Torchwood.”

“Did you know she was going to fail?” she asked point-blank.

“No…”

“Then it was her fault, not yours.  You can’t blame yourself.”

“It wasn’t just Gwen,” he admitted.  “It was Suzie too. I hired her and she turned into a homicidal maniac.”

“And is there a test that can prove someone is going to go insane and start killing people?” 

“No, but I shouldn’t have hired her.  I should have sent her back to Torchwood One the moment Ianto and I took over Cardiff.”

“What was your reason for hiring her?”

“She was intelligent and seemed to know what she was doing, unlike the other three who’d been sent by Hartman to run things.  It was obvious she didn’t care much for One, either.”  Jack gripped the steering wheel tighter.  “Ianto urged me not to hire her.  He also argued against hiring Gwen, too.  He said he didn’t trust either of them.  I should have listened.”

“I’ll be the first to admit that Tad seems to have a second sense where it comes to trusting others,” Alice admitted.  “But you can’t tell me he’s never wrong.”

“It’s just that,” Jack said, frustration in his voice, “as much as I pride myself on being good around people, he’s so much more than that.  He would be doing a much better job at running Torchwood than I would.”

Alice was shocked to hear her Dad sound so hopeless.  It made her snappish.  “Dad, I think you need to get your head out of your arse and just accept the fact that neither of you can run Torchwood by yourselves.  Ianto might be good with the actual people, but you, Dad…you’re the leader.  They would follow you into hell because they trust you, and believe in you.  Sure, you make mistakes…who doesn’t?  But you can’t take the responsibility for what Suzie and Gwen did.  They’re their own people, and they chose their own fates.  Suzie must have known what messing around with alien technology could do to her, and it was up to her to take the proper precautions.  And Gwen…it seemed like she thought she was always right, when she really didn’t know what the hell she was doing.  Seems to me, Dad, it was their own fault they failed, and not yours.”

She reached over and rested her hand on his arm.  “God knows you’re not perfect, and neither is Ianto.  But, together, you can do things that others simply imagine.  You still won’t be perfect, but you will always be able to rely on each other.  I think you both kinda ignored that for a while and, when you do that, things may fall apart in rather spectacular ways.  But you two will always pick yourselves up and try again, and you’ve proved that by going back after what the Master did to you.  I’m proud of you both.”

She couldn’t miss the single tear that tracked its way down her Dad’s cheek.  “Thank you, Alice.”

She reached across and wiped the tear away with her thumb.  “Just doing my job as your daughter, Dad.”

“So it’s your job to kick me when I get maudlin?”  Jack asked, giving her that smile that spoke of his love for her, and of her special place in his heart. 

“Yep.  And I’ll do it for Ianto as well whenever he needs it.”

“I’ll hold you to that,” Ianto’s voice floated up from the back seat.  Alice had almost forgotten that he was there.

“Sleep it off, Tad,” she called back playfully.  “You have to work in the morning and I bet a dragon with a hangover isn’t very pleasant.”

“Dragons don’t get hangovers,” he answered smugly. 

Her Dad was shaking his head, mouthing, “Don’t believe him,” silently in Alice’s direction. 

Alice snorted, shaking her head fondly.  She really did love the pair of them.  “Dad, are you gonna be all right?” she asked seriously.

Jack nodded. “Yeah, sweetheart.  I think the more people tell me I’m not responsible for what happened, the more it sinks in.  As Ianto is fond of saying, I’m fond of self-flagellation.”

“You are, Jack,” Ianto piped up.

“Yeah, yeah…I hear ya.”  Jack sounded very put-upon, despite the smile on his face.   “I’ll be fine, the pair of you.  It’s just going to take some time, that’s all.  And it helps I have such a great family to be there with me.”

“Mission accomplished,” Ianto stated, apparently quite pleased with himself.

 “Just wait until I get you home,” Jack mock-threatened.

“Get me home first,” Alice requested, “before you start thanking him, Dad.”

“No thanking tonight,” Jack answered, laughing.  “I’ll be lucky to get him up the stairs.”

“I’m not that drunk, Jack.”

Alice couldn’t help but laugh at their antics.

The drive to her house was filled with more of the banter, and when Jack pulled into her driveway Alice was almost disappointed.  She wasn’t quite ready for the night to end, even though it was horribly late. 

She was met by her Dad as she stepped out of the SUV.  He enveloped her in a hug, a whispered, “Thank you,” fluttering the air around her ear. 

She hugged him back.  “Anytime, Dad,” she whispered back.  “Love you.”

His arms tightened.  “I love you too, sweetheart.”  Then he pulled back, but kept his hands on her shoulders.  “I’d better get the dragon home before he passes out –“

“I’m not going to pass out,” Ianto denied, suddenly appearing at their side.  He was swaying slightly, and Alice realised he must have climbed out of the other side of the SUV.   He tugged Alice into his arms.  “Talk to you later,” he murmured.  “Call if you need anything.”

“You too, Tad,” she answered.  “Take care of him.”

“I always will.”  He kissed her on the forehead.  “Good night, Alice.”

She smiled as he stumbled his way back into the SUV, this time taking the seat she’d just vacated.  “Get him home, Dad,” she chuckled.  “And keep the pain killers handy for in the morning.”

Jack rolled his eyes at his mate’s antics.  “Have a good night,” he said, stepping back toward the vehicle.

“You too, Dad.  I’ll talk to you later.”

She watched as he got into the SUV, and stood there until it had pulled out of the driveway and had disappeared down the street.  Alice sighed, shaking her head, and then walked toward the door digging in her bag for her keys.  Steven would be asleep by now, and she felt just a little bit guilty getting in so late.  She hoped she had enough cash to pay the sitter…

As she was putting her key into the lock, Alice felt a breeze caress her cheek and ruffle her hair.  She closed her eyes, sensing the Air Dragon’s chuckle without hearing it.

Smiling, she entered her home.

 

 

 


End file.
